<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Out Among The Stars by houxvertetbruyere</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957614">Out Among The Stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/houxvertetbruyere/pseuds/houxvertetbruyere'>houxvertetbruyere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Kissing, M/M, kind of, not-fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:08:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,245</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/houxvertetbruyere/pseuds/houxvertetbruyere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>JT and Len used to be best friends as kids. Like, inseparable. Jim would spend the night at the McCoy’s when shit was bad at Frank’s. Len would ride his bike to Jim’s and help him with farm chores and then Jim would ride on Len’s handlebars and they’d go into town, get candy, play arcade games.</p><p>Then in high school there was a sort of falling out.</p><p>Trektober Day 11 - Enemies To Lovers + Stars</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Trektober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Out Among The Stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is a self-indulgent not!fic because I am sick and it hurts to look at my laptop</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>JT and Len used to be best friends as kids. Like, inseparable. Jim would spend the night at the McCoy’s when shit was bad at Frank’s. Len would ride his bike to Jim’s and help him with farm chores and then Jim would ride on Len’s handlebars and they’d go into town, get candy, play arcade games. </p><p>The McCoys took Jim with them on vacation a few times when Winona was around to allow it. Len would find Jim crying in the barn sometimes and just wrap an arm around his shoulder and be there for him. Jim would be the only bright point in Len’s otherwise tightly wrapped conservative life.</p><p>Then in high school there was a sort of falling out. </p><p>Jim was all fucked up about his family, especially after Sam ran away. He wasn’t coping, wanted to go around town starting fires and throwing rocks but Len was serious about grades, had to get into med school. JT was always too smart for his own good but he couldn’t buckle down and be serious. After a couple of arrests Len’s parents didn’t want Jim coming around anymore and Len felt trapped. Didn’t stand up to them about it because maybe he thought they were right. Jim was plummeting and bringing Len down with him.</p><p>Then, in junior year of high school, James T Kirk, talk of the town, punches Leonard McCoy, local treasure, right in the face. </p><p>He shows up drunk to a small party Len is only at because his girlfriend really wanted to go. Len’s parents think he’s at a study group. Jim’s eyes are wild. He’s got a black eye. He’s deeply hurt and feels all alone in the world and who should be out at this party but Mr Goody Two Shoes McCoy. </p><p>He tries to punch Len a second time but he’s a bit too drunk and his aim is off. Len tells him to “knock it off Jim” but he won’t so Len punches back. Then they’re properly fighting. Len’s date is hysterical, someone is threatening to call the cops. They’re both giving it their all and though Jim is drunk he’s lashing out like a wildcat and Len has to work to keep up. They both end up bloody. Len has a broken nose and red scratch marks on the back of his neck. </p><p>He doesn’t see Jim again for three years. There’s a rumor Jim skips senior year because he’s in prison. Len wants to scoff and roll his eyes but he can’t honestly be sure. His nose doesn’t ever set quite right.</p><p>Then Winona dies. </p><p>It’s the first week of winter break and Len is 20. He’s in town for the holidays and he can’t think of an excuse not to go to her funeral. He also can’t tell whether he’s more nervous that Jim will be there or that he won’t.</p><p>Jim is there, of course he is. Looking honestly better than Len had expected. His parents wear black and wring their hands and give their deepest sympathies to Frank and Sam and Jim as they move down the procession line. </p><p>Len skips right past Frank, his parents be damned, he is not shaking that man’s hand. He gets a hug and a “hey man” from Sam but when he gets to Jim he doesn’t know what to do so he puts his hands in his pockets. </p><p>Jim bites his lip as he looks at Len. Len and Jim both start to say “How are you” at the same time and they end up laughing. They get sharp looks from Frank and Len’s parents. </p><p>Jim says “Hey you wanna get some air?” and the Mccoys protest but Len says something snappy to them about how “Jim’s ma just died, seriously let the guy take some space”. And he goes easily. Out the kitchen door, through the backyard, to the spot in the barn where they used to play spacemen as kids.</p><p>The sun is setting as they climb up the hayloft in their suits. </p><p>They just sit in silence for a long while.</p><p>Then they end up star-gazing, pointing out the different constellations they know. </p><p>Jim says “I’m sorry about that fight at the Snelling’s house.” </p><p>Len says “me too, how have you been?”</p><p>Jim says “I joined the navy.” </p><p>Len says “no shit? Like your old man?” And Jim nods.</p><p>Len says “I’m sorry I never stood up for you. I was a shitty friend.”</p><p>They hash out their various failings and each says “No, no you did nothing wrong” to the other. </p><p>After a long quiet moment Len says “I’m real sorry bout your ma, Jim.”</p><p>Before he knows it Jim’s shoulders start to shake. He cries and cries and Len can do nothing but scoot closer and hold him. And just like when they were kids, Jim lets him. </p><p>When Jim has cried himself out Len kisses the top of his head. He says “Winona was a hell of a woman… but sometimes I hated her for leaving you and Sam alone here.” And Jim laughs wetly. </p><p>“I was never alone, Bones. I always had you.”</p><p>Len grabs his hand and squeezes it. </p><p>“Yeah, until you didn’t.”</p><p>Jim licks his lips and looks up at the stars. “I was lighting fires all over the place back then. I’m kind of glad we grew apart. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I had burned up your dreams, too.”</p><p>Len says “nah this is my parents’ dream, not mine.”</p><p>Jim says “you’re kidding me, me too. Why do we still give a shit what our parents want? Our parents suck.”</p><p>Len bursts out laughing. Jim starts laughing too. Soon they’re both on their backs wheezing, pressed together from shoulder to knee, legs dangling off the loft.</p><p>Jim’s pinky hooks around Len’s. Then Len grabs his whole hand and intertwines their fingers. Jim sniffs and Len looks up, catches his gaze. Len can see the stars reflected in Jim’s wet eyes.</p><p>In two seconds they’re kissing. </p><p>It’s sweet and breathless and smells like hay. Jim squeezes his hand through the whole thing.</p><p>Jim whispers, “you know it’s not too late to change our lives.”</p><p>Len hums. Doesn’t say anything. </p><p>Jim says “it wouldn’t be like a residency at Johns Hopkins but I have a friend at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica. They’d probably bend over backwards to get someone on an advanced medical track like you.” </p><p>Len almost scoffs at that. Gives himself a moment to consider it instead. A new idea of what his future could look like is blooming before him. Where before he had reduced his vision to a grey monotony of hitting his father’s milestones, now a whole universe of options spreads out before him. </p><p>He blinks up at the stars and then down at their intertwined hands and asks “You think they’d let us... serve together?”</p><p>Jim shrugs, says “why wouldn’t they? But there are lots of other options. What about the UN or the Peace Corps or something? Hey, Doctors Without Borders doesn’t ONLY hire doctors, do they? I feel like I could run a non profit- I’m full of ideas.”</p><p>Len laughs again. His chest feels lighter than it has in literal years. He says “you’re full of something.”</p><p>Jim rolls on top of him, playfully pinning him to the floor. They kiss again.</p><p>The stars turn slowly in the sky above them.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>